Long Journey Home
by FortRider
Summary: During a test of the weapons found in Lucky Findings, Rodney, Ford and John are left stranded a long way from Atlantis, and days from the nearest gate. Rodney and John Friendship.
1. Day 1

Long Journey Home

Day 1

Rodney stood by one of the drone ports on the outside of Atlantis. He had a pair of binoculars in one hand, and was looking towards the outside doors of the Jumper Bay with an air of impatience. Finally the doors opened, and a jumper glided up into the sky.

Gracefully, it gained height and levelled off about a hundred meters above Rodney. He touched his earpiece.

"You need to be a little higher than that." He said, slightly exasperated.

"I know Rodney," replied an equally annoyed John, who was piloting the jumper. "That _was _the plan. I was just going to check you were ready."

"I've been _ready_ for half an hour."

All right, all right, I'm going." John grinned at Dr Zelenka and Ford, who were fiddling with a test drone from the SGC. "Are you two finished?"

"We are now." Replied Ford, as they put away their tools and took seats in the fore section of the jumper. Zelenka closed the door as he passed.

"Right. Rodney," he started over his radio, "I'm opening the rear door. We'll drop the drone when we reach the right altitude."

"Okay. Elizabeth, we're nearly ready."

"Right you are Rodney," replied Elizabeth, who was in the Chair Room. She smiled encouragingly at Cadman, who was sitting in the chair. Just recently she and Rodney had been forced to share his body. After that, they had developed a good platonic relationship, and she had also discovered she had a talent with Ancient technology that competed with John's.

In a low orbit above Atlantis, John looked over to Zelenka. "Release the drone, Doctor." The scientist touched a button, and the drone dropped out the open rear hatch. It fell back until its cable was tight.

When he felt the ever so slight jerk in the jumper's controls, John turned it around. He took it into a dive that mimicked a dart heading for Atlantis. As soon as their sensor's detected it, Elizabeth said,

"Remember, make sure you target the drone, not the jumper." Cadman nodded an acknowledgment. "Fire one drone."

"Yes ma'am." Replied Cadman. She concentrated hard.

By Rodney, the drone port opened, and a single yellow blur leapt up. The port closed behind it, as Rodney tracked the blur with his binoculars. "One drone away," he reported to John and Elizabeth.

"Acknowledged," replied John. He cut the radio contact, and immediately pulled out of the dive. He began to throw the jumper left and right, trying to shake the drone, while the test drone followed in tow.

In the Chair Room, Cadman visibly mimicked the jumper's movements as she kept the drone locked on its target. It could keep track of his movements normally without help, but the extra intelligence allowed it to predict John's movements and actually catch him.

John dropped the jumper into a free fall dive well away from the drone, then pulled up suddenly, a manoeuvre that he'd seen a Wraith dart use to avoid a drone. The drone matched his movements exactly.

With inertial dampers and artificial gravity, the jumper's passengers didn't feel the violent manoeuvres impossible in a normal Earth fighter. The test drone, however, was being thrown around wildly, making the drone's job a lot harder.

Despite John pulling every trick in every book he knew, which would have easily lost a normal missile, the Ancient's weapon wouldn't budge. Inch by inch, it got closer, until it impacted on the test drone, which exploded.

The jumper, unharmed by its brief tailing fireball, turned to make a graceful landing on one of the piers near Rodney. The physicist came next to it, and waited for the passengers to disembark.

"That was good! I got some good readings from that." Rodney paused when he saw Zelenka and Ford sorting out a second test drone. "Err, what are you doing?"

"You should always repeat an experiment, to check the first results were not a fluke. You should know that by know Rodney. It's your turn to take some readings in the jumper, and I'll watch, so we don't make the same mistakes twice." Zelenka said, matter-of-factly.

"We're ready for the second test, Rodney." Elizabeth said over the radio. Her excellent timing made Rodney sure this had been a set up.

"Why am I the only one who didn't know about this?" Asked Rodney, far from pleased.

"I'm sure I told you when we were planning." Replied Zelenka.

"Don't worry Rodney," added Cadman, who was also listening in, "I won't let it hit you. Besides, I thought you _like_ flying." She grinned at Elizabeth, who just smothered a laugh. The both knew full well his opinions of John's flying.

"Oh yes, I _love_ it." He replied sarcastically.

"Rodney!" Elizabeth started warningly, "Get in the jumper."

"_All right!_ I suppose with the inertial dampers, I won't notice." He sighed, sounding put upon, and walked into the jumper.

Behind his back, John and Ford shared a grin.

When they reached the correct altitude they released the test drone again. John fiddled with a few controls, and then he turned to face his passengers.

"Strap in." He said, and turned back to his controls.

"What about the inertial dampers?" Asked Rodney, a shade panicked.

"I'm turning them down. Hopefully it'll give me a little more manoeuvrability."

"And you're telling me this _now_!"

"I'm sure I mentioned it before."

"No!"

"Oh, sorry." John grinned so that Rodney couldn't see him. Without warning, he took them through a tight loop that pinned the all to their seats, and the drone followed.

After a short time, Cadman opened her eyes in surprise. Something felt different, wrong even. Seeing Elizabeth's concerned glance, she closed her eyes and concentrated again. She felt all the weapons, all the shields, and half of Atlantis's other systems at her control, but she couldn't find that one drone.

"Err, Doctor Weir, I can't find the drone!" She said, more than a little panicked.

"What do you mean?"

"I've lost control of it."

"It's been destroyed, or stopped working?"

"No, it's definitely there, the sensors can see it. It just isn't following any of my orders."

The implications hit Elizabeth straight away. "Keep trying." She said, and then touched her earpiece. "John, the drone is out of our control. Abort the experiment."

"Right you are Elizabeth. We'll be back down in a couple of minutes."

John turned to Ford, "Drop the drone."

Ford nodded and touched the control. John felt a little lurch as it fell away. They waited for the explosion, but it didn't come. John pulled up a rear view.

The bright yellow point that was the drone was still following, but he could see their test drone dropping towards the sea.

"Err, Atlantis, we have a problem." He winced at the misquoting. "The drone is still chasing us."

"Can you lose it?"

"Not when it's this close, particularly as the Daedalus is so close. It could go for her instead."

"Stand by."

In the mean time, John looked at Rodney. "Any ideas?"

"The chair should have been able to abort it."

"They said they'd lost control of it."

"Then I haven't a clue."

"Right. I'm contacting the Daedalus."

* * *

Aboard the Daedalus, the duty officer acknowledged the message. "We've raised shields. Can we help at all?"

"Can you shoot the drone down?" Replied John, hopefully.

"Not without getting you as well."

"Right, well, get ready to go into hyperspace if the drone goes for you."

"Roger, we're spinning up the drive now."

Rodney had his head in his hands, and was practically leaning on the controls. Whether he was in thought or in prayer, John and Ford couldn't tell. Privately John suspected the latter. Suddenly he looked up, eyes alight.

"That's it!" He practically yelled.

"What?" said John, only half concentrating as he tried to shake off the drone.

"Hyperspace! Get the Daedalus to open a window, and then get the drone to go into it. Problem solved!"

"Right. And how do I achieve that?"

"I don't know. You're the pilot."

"Right…" John said slowly, as he took them through a tight turn.

Rodney held a brief discussion with first the duty officer, then one of the engineers on the Daedalus, explaining what he wanted to do, and then had John fly closer than he wanted to the battle cruiser. Ahead of her, the Daedalus projected a hyperspace window, and John directed them towards the multi-hued area of space.

At the absolute last moment before they crossed the event horizon of the window, John flipped them away. For a moment, the drone kept going, but no longer. It performed an impressive turn and kept following the jumper. All the stunt had achieved was gaining them a little distance.

John brought them about once more.

"Any more bright ideas?"

"Afraid not, sorry." Replied Rodney, ignoring the sarcasm.

"In that case, tell the Daedalus to be ready to shut down their hyper drive. They'll know when."

"What are you going to do?"

"You'll see…"

John turned them to face the hyperspace window, and put the throttles to their stops, which wasn't that much more. At first Rodney thought they were just going to try his idea again. Then he realised John's intentions.

"We can't go in there! We could be destroyed!" He said, a shade panicked.

"Compared to what? You can't think I can dodge this thing forever."

"But…"

"Too late!" John cut across him, just as they crossed the event horizon, and vanished.

The drone lost its lock at that instant, and spun to face the Daedalus. Almost lazily, one of the deck guns moved and picked it off in a stream of rail gun fire.

* * *

"So where have they gone?" Elizabeth looked at Zelenka.

"Well… we're not sure. They could be anywhere along what is a wide channel." He indicated it on one of their star charts. They could have dropped out anywhere along here."

"Will they know where they are?"

"In theory, yes, so long as they don't gain too much damage and they should be able to find a gate." He tapped a button, and the worlds with stargates glowed. "We'll just have to hope they have enough food and water to get there. I they ended up here," he indicated a few small areas in the channel, "it could be hazy."

"Well, we'll send the Daedalus there first, and then expand the search if we don't find them, or they don't return before then."

"They're best off looking for debris," another man put in.

Elizabeth spun around, and pinned the scientist, who happened to be Kavanaugh's replacement, with her fiercest glare. The man held up his hands in surrender. "I'm just saying that they're unlikely to have survived the journey. Jumpers are designed for gate travel, not hyperspace."

If looks could have killed, the man's shadow would have been etched into the wall, along with the rest of him, by now.

Elizabeth kept her voice level, but her tone had the force of a laser. "We will _not_ be giving up until we find them and we definitely do not need pessimism like that. Your predecessor learnt what happens when people act like that on my team; don't make me repeat myself again. Oh, and we _won't_ be talking about this _ever_ again."

Zelenka had only heard Elizabeth use that tone on Kavanuagh, and he'd been reassigned as soon as they had power for the gate to get to Earth. As the scientist scuttled away, her face softened and she faced Zelenka. "Find then Doctor."

He nodded, and headed off to the Daedalus's pier.

* * *

John woke up face down on the jumper's controls. His head felt like it had been sawn in two, and he could feel indents along his forehead that matched the controls in front of him.

Turning around, and trying not to pass out from the pain, he heard a groan from Ford, who was sitting in his chair, stirring. He too showed signs of his one-sided fight with his controls.

Rodney was lying flat out on the floor, not making any sound or movement. John got up to check him over.

John woke up, on the floor this time, a couple of seconds later. Rodney was also showing signs of alertness. They looked into each other's eyes, and, not quite aware of what was going on, Rodney smiled, and said, "G'd Mornin'."

After a short time, both men caught up with current events, and simultaneously got the idea that they were in bed. Together.

They both sat up in shock, and then took in their surroundings. Aside from a few spots of blood where John had fallen the second time and opened a cut on his forehead, the jumper was in good shape. There was no obvious damage, and nothing was burning.

"Well, we made it." John remarked idly, as he explored the wounds on his forehead, wincing.

"Doesn't fell like it." Replied Rodney, as he inspected his head with his hands, which was aching a lot.

John looked up at Ford, who hadn't really moved except for turning around. His eyes were strangely unfocussed, and he didn't seem up to date with the situation. "Are you alright Lieutenant?"

"Sir?" He asked, confused.

"He looks concussed." Commented Rodney, "Let's get him to lie down."

Together, valiantly ignoring sore heads and protesting muscles, they hefted Ford onto one of the benches, where he quickly fell asleep. Happy that he seemed fine, the two men settled themselves into the control chairs.

"Right, now, where are we?" John said.

At his thought, a star chart appeared on the front screen. A box expanded, highlighting their position. When he wondered where the nearest stargate was, the planets with them on flashed.

"I assume those planets have gates." Rodney pointed at the glowing ones. "So, this one's nearest." He pointed to it, "How far is that?"

A distance and ETA appeared. It was about three days aware.

"Well, we'd better get going." John touched the controls, and the jumper set off. "He set the auto-guidance system, and then got up and reached for the first aid kit. "Now, I need an aspirin." Rodney agreed.

* * *

Elizabeth looked at the rest of the people in the room.

"According to Dr Zelenka's simulations, there is an 87 chance that the jumper and its occupants survived without serious damage. As such, I'm going to divert most of our resources to the search. The Daedalus will jump to the furthest point the jumper could have emerged. On its way it will drop out of hyperspace at regular intervals in order to scan for the jumper. If she doesn't find it, then she is to turn around and begin a search pattern along the corridor."

Commander Caldwell nodded as he accepted the instructions, even if he didn't agree with the expenditure of resources for just three men. In his mind he began to work out the best method of finding them.

"Meanwhile, we will begin to send teams to the planets that are along the corridor. Teyla, we'll rely on your knowledge of the planets to assist us."

"I will do my best." She replied.

"Right." Elizabeth rubbed her hands together, anticipating a short search. "Does everyone have any questions?"

"I've got one. Err…" The lieutenant acting in John's role until he returned started nervously. "I know all three of the men are important to this mission, and I for one hope we find them soon, but are they important enough to utilize all of Atlantis's personnel?"

The people on either side of him subtly shifted sidewise, and he suddenly felt very exposed.

"Yes." Replied Elizabeth simply.

"Okay." The man recognised an escape when he saw it.

"Good, now, let's find our people."

* * *

Dr Zelenka was discussing the problem of locating the jumper with the Daedalus's resident Azgard.

"Would it not be better for us to start a search pattern from the beginning?" Hermiod asked

"It would be more efficient, yes, but time is of the essence. This plan will let us cover the area where the jumper could have emerged faster and then only do a thorough search if it's necessary.

Hermiod nodded, and then said, "The hyperdrive is ready."

"Right." Zelenka touched the internal comms. "Zelenka to Bridge. We're ready to go."

"Okay Doctor."

Zelenka rocked a little as the Daedalus took off, and then turned towards the sensor's controls. Under his breath he muttered, "I hope we find them."

* * *

John winced as Rodney tended his cut. "Are you sure you know what you are doing?"

"Yes!" Rodney snapped, concentrating on what he was doing. He taped the last steri-strip over the cut, and then took a step back, examining his work. "There we go." The last words trailed off into a yawn, and John replied with one of his own, scowling. He glanced at his watch, it was about ten in the evening, and despite the few hours spent unconscious, he was exhausted.

"If we're both going to sleep, and I doubt either of us can stay awake any longer," he added, countering any argument from Rodney, "we should go into stealth mode. The jumper will keep going on anyway."

"What if the Daedalus comes past?" Replied Rodney.

"What if the _Wraith_ come past?" Countered John.

"True."

John concentrated for a moment, and then the jumper cloaked.

"I'll let you have the other bench, seeing as you won't be any real use in an emergency." John said, teasing him.

"Thanks!"

John, ignoring the sarcasm, made himself in his seat, and quickly fell into a deep sleep, with Rodney's light snores surprisingly comforting in the background.

* * *

Above the invisible jumper, a hyperspace window opened, and the Daedalus emerged. It quickly scanned the area, an action the jumper dutifully recorded. John's ear-piece, which he'd taken out before he settled down, crackled into life for a moment.

"_Jumper 1, this is the Daedalus, do you read?"_

None of the men noticed the message, or the numerous repeats.

The Daedalus did one last scan of the system, but the jumper's slight emissions, all that penetrated the cloak, were lost in the Daedalus's own much larger interference. She opened another hyperspace window ahead of her, and the battle cruiser disappeared into it.

Underneath, serenely unaware of the activity above it, the jumper continued to drift on into the night.


	2. Day 2

Long Journey Home

Day 2

John woke up with a stiff neck and a sore back. For a moment he wasn't completely certain where he was. The glow of the panels just below his eye level, and the absolute darkness scattered with a few points of light ahead of him, quickly refreshed his memory. He groaned as he tried to stretch his neck, and behind him, through the bulkhead, he heard Rodney shifting on his bench.

He ran his hands over his face, wincing as he felt the stubble growing, as he checked over the controls, making sure they were still on course. They were still headed for the planet with the gate, but they were still a couple of days away.

Behind him he heard the bulkhead open, and Rodney stepped through. He unknowingly repeated John's gesture and expression as he entered. John looked around. Rodney looked exactly as he did yesterday morning. John grinned. Rodney could never grow a beard.

"How are we doing?" Rodney asked.

"We're still on course, but it'll be a couple of days before we got to the gate, if it's still there."

"If?" Rodney echoed, a little worried.

"Well, you never know… How's Ford?"

"I'm not really sure. He's not woken at all, in fact, he's lying exactly as he was when we put him there. Otherwise he seems fine. I just hope he has no internal injuries." Rodney shrugged his inability to do more. He looked out at the stars. "We don't look like we're going that fast."

"We're going as fast as the jumper will safely go. That," he pointed at the brightest star ahead of them, "is where we're headed. According to the database, it's an icy world, but the Ancients had an outpost near the gate. Apparently it was one of the first worlds to fall to the Wraith."

"All that's very interesting, though I doubt we'll be able to do any sight-seeing. Are you sure we can't go any faster?"

"You're the expert. Unless you can do something, we're stuck at this pace."

Rodney grumbled for a moment, then grabbing his data pack and tool kit, he headed for the system control junctions.

* * *

"Put me through to Atlantis."

"Aye sir, establishing subspace communications."

Commander Caldwell settled himself in his chair. He didn't like making reports containing failures.

Elizabeth's face appeared on one of the screens.

"Any luck Commander?"

"We've completed the jumps to the furthest predicted arrival point. We have detected no sign of the jumper. We are now going to begin the search pattern along the full corridor, taking into account their likely courses."

"Understood, is their anything else?" Elizabeth hoped there would be some good news.

"I have some good news." Put in Zelenka." We have detected no wreckage or debris from the jumper, and neither have we found any evidence of its destruction. Hermiod and I are working on a way to see if we can detect any remnants of the hyperspace window. Unfortunately, the best person to do that is the very one we are trying to find." Zelenka shrugged. "We can try."

"Do your best, Doctor. Atlantis out." Elizabeth disappeared.

The commander looked at his officers. "Launch the '302s. Let's bring them home."

* * *

Rodney came back into the fore section of the jumper and sat down with a dejected thump.

"No luck?" Asked John, who already knew the answer.

"Not a thing. These ships obviously weren't designed for interstellar travel, or any long distance for that matter, except through a gate." He ran his hand over his face again and muttered, "I need a shave."

John looked over to him and grinned. "I wouldn't worry about it. I doubt you could grow a beard if you tried."

"What makes you say that?"

"Rodney, I've seen more hair on a peach. You wouldn't know what a beard was if it bit you on the nose." John stated matter-of-factly, his voice level.

Rodney's wasn't. "Is that so, well, at least I can tell one end of a screwdriver from the other."

"Really?" John raised his voice. "Good for you, but that wouldn't help with facial hair now would it."

"Pah, at least my shoddy piloting didn't get us stranded."

"What! That wasn't my fault!"

"Why not, the only time you've ever dodged a drone was by accident."

"What the hell?" John paused for a minute, wondering how his gentle jibe had escalated into this. "Why the hell are we arguing abut this, it ain't gonna help matters."

"I have no idea." Replied Rodney, a lot calmer now. "I could still grow a beard though." He muttered.

"Couldn't," replied John in an equally low voice.

Movement in the aft section headed off the potential continuation of the argument. Both men stood up hurriedly and went to check on Ford.

He was still lying on his bench, but now he was tossing and turning fitfully. When Rodney tentatively placed his hand on the man's forehead, he gasped at how warm he was. "He must be feverish." Said Rodney, concerned. "He must have an injury we can't see, let alone treat. There's nothing I can do for him. All I know is if we don't get back soon, there's probably not much we can do for him."

"Nothing at all?" John asked.

"Not if the injuries are internal. We can only make him comfortable, and hope he's treatable when we get to Atlantis."

"Do your best." John turned and retook the pilot's seat.

* * *

Rodney joined John a little later. "He woke up for a short time. I gave him something for the fever, and then he dropped off again." Rodney shrugged his inability to do more. "Any sign of the search parties?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Unfortunately?"

"According to the sensor logs, the Daedalus passed us by last night. They moved past on sublight engines for precisely five minutes, scanning everything within range, and then jumped to hyperspace. Obviously they couldn't detect us with the cloak up."

"Sounds like a search pattern. What way were they headed?"

"Same way we were when we dropped out of hyperspace."

"They'll probably turn back soon and begin a thorough search. That's the way Zelenka works, search as much area as fast as possible, and therefore spend longer looking for things."

John shook his head at the derision in the physicist's voice. "It would have worked, you know."

"They hadn't counted on us being cloaked."

"They tried the radio as well. It's not their fault we both fell asleep instead of leaving someone on watch."

"Hmm." Being proved wrong would not make Rodney doubt his superiority.

* * *

A few hours later, Rodney took the controls so that John could get some rest. While he watched the stars, and kept an eye on their course, he tried to estimate the chances of them getting home. The calculations weren't looking good.

Ahead of them a hyperspace window opened, and at first he thought it was the Daedalus, but something was wrong. The ships that emerged showed him why. It was a Wraith fleet.

"John! We have company." Rodney automatically cloaked the jumper and took them on a course that would avoid the bulk of the ships.

One hive ship, and then a second emerged as John took a seat. They were accompanied by several destroyers. A third appeared as he took over the controls.

"What're they up to, I wonder?"

"What way are they headed?" John asked.

"Same way as us, more or less."

"I thought the planet was an ice world. There can't be anyone living there now, and why did they emerge so far from the planet?"

As they watched, numerous darts launched and arranged themselves in a sphere. At the centre lay the jumper.

"Please tell me I'm wrong, but doesn't this look like a net?"

As soon as Rodney said that, the darts began firing in a way that gave the jumper no escape.

"You had to say it, didn't you?" John snapped, as if Rodney was to blame.

"How do they know we're here?"

"Wait, don't touch a thing." John paused, and everything in the jumper went dark. Everything except the cloak shut down. John had his eyes screwed up in concentration. "Quick, find an energy signature that doesn't belong." He said curtly. He had to concentrate every particle of his mind on preventing the jumper from powering up at Rodney's, and particularly his, presence.

Rodney dived for his bag and began searching for his instruments. When he found the right one he then stopped to fiddle with it to make it ignore the cloak generator, and then he began to search.

"Hurry up!" Said John through gritted teeth.

Rodney scanned around and homed in on John's bag. He tipped it over the floor, and practically flinging things over his shoulder, he searched through the stuff. He quickly came across a device that definitely wasn't standard issue.

"I've found it!" He cried, and drew his zat. One shot killed the energy signature, and another made certain.

Outside, the dart's net was closing in on them. John let the jumper fully power up again, and sent it diving towards the nearest gap. It was already too small, far too small.

Briefly, John let the jumper decloak, and he launched every drone they had at the darts, letting the drones spread out in a wide net of their own. He cloaked them immediately after the last drone launched, and watched as a hole formed in the net as darts scattered to avoid the drones. John directed them through the net and on into the night.

Behind them, some of the darts fired randomly at where they thought the jumper was. Most of them were way off target, but a couple connected with the rear of the jumper.

Suddenly the central bulkhead slammed shut and the both men felt the jumper lurch. For a moment, while he threw the jumper around to avoid any more shots, John couldn't quite work out what had happened and why.

Rodney knew instantly. "Ford!" He cried, as he flicked up a rear view on a side screen. Behind them, surrounded by the exploding darts as drones met their target, was a rapidly expanding cloud of debris. In the middle, visible only by the glittering wreckage he blocked, there was the inert form of a man, gently turning with the rest of the items vented from the rear compartment.

A quick scan removed the need to turn back and pick him up. His body didn't show even the faintest of life-signs. As he turned off the display, Rodney closed his eyes in grief. "He's gone."

"What! What happened?"

"The rear hatch must have been damaged and exploded. The whole rear compartment must be open to space. Ford must have died almost instantly."

"We should go back and get him, before the Wraith do." Replied John instantly.

"It's too late." Replied Rodney, remarkably gently. "The Wraith won't be interested in him. We must get to the planet soon, most of our water and all our food is in that debris cloud. We can go and collect his body in the Daedalus after we get back. We can't do anything for him now."

Intensely annoyed by Rodney's sensible arguments, John was half inclined to turn back anyway. However, as he couldn't think of any way of recovering the man's body without killing the both of them, he let the jumper continue on its course.

* * *

Cadman dropped the '302 into normal space at her last designated searching point before returning to the Daedalus. As she executed a scan of the system, she hoped that she would find them, and that they would be safe. A handful of readings on her radar caught he attention, and so she went to investigate.

She saw the remnants of the darts first, and wondered at the amount of debris.

"That must have been quite a fight," she muttered to herself.

Her breath caught as she saw the saw amount of debris floating separate from the rest. A quick scan with what sensors the '302 carried showed the worst. As far as she could tell, the composition of the debris matched that of a jumper. As she got closer, she caught sight of the cloud's largest constituent.

Quickly she brought her craft to a stop close to the debris, and hit her lights. They illuminated the back of a man's head. Slowly, as he turned around his centre of gravity, his face came into sight.

Despite herself, she let go of a sigh of relief when she saw it was neither Rodney nor John. She had never been able to form a close relationship with Ford, but she still was sad to see him like that. Then she immediately wondered what had happened to the other two men. She hoped the Wraith hadn't taken them, but that seemed likely.

Reluctantly, she reported what she'd found to the Daedalus, along with her position, and waited for them to arrive.

The Daedalus's hyperspace window, accompanied by several smaller '302 ones, no doubt belong to returning searchers, opened not far from the dart debris. Cadman directed her craft to the launch bay, and when she had landed, headed to the briefing room to report in.

* * *

"I've called off the search," started Caldwell when Cadman reported in. "I don't think that there's much chance of a successful search now."

"There's hardly enough debris to say the entire puddle jumper was destroyed." Interrupted Zelenka, who was far from pleased about this surrender. "And we only found Ford."

"There's a good chance they're dead, or worse, taken by the Wraith. Doctor Beckett, how did Ford die?" The commander looked towards the medical doctor who had joined the search.

"As I suspected, it was the sudden, seemingly violent exposure to space, but he also appeared to have a serious concussion and internal injuries that cannae be caused by decompression. They look more like impact injuries, like he had a wee argument with the floor of a jumper. I'd say he had a bumpy journey before he got where he was left."

"That seems to suggest there's little chance of us finding the rest of the team intact."

"Perhaps, but I don't think we can give up just yet." Put in Zelenka, determined to get the search continued.

"As Zelenka say's, there's hardly enough evidence to assume the jumper was destroyed." Added Beckett.

"But you say they experience rapid decompression. I take that as all the evidence I need to make my decision. Your loyalty is admirable, Doctors, but I think we need to face facts. They're gone, and I don't think any searching's going to find them. I'm going to inform Elizabeth of my decision, and head back."

Both Doctors shared an exasperated glance, but before either could summon a reasonable argument, the Commander had gone. Cadman got up, and moved close to Beckett for comfort.

"Bastard," she muttered. To her amazement, both men agreed. Beckett was usually quick to pick her up on such a comment about her superiors. "He's always had it in for Colonel Sheppard, especially when Dr Weir overrode the SGC's opinions to put him in as the Head of Military."

"Perhaps we're hoping to find them too much." Said Beckett quietly, though he didn't really believe what he was saying.

"No, I don't think we've lost Rodney or John just yet." Replied Zelenka confidently. "Perhaps I can see if Hermiod or I can find the engine trails while he is chatting to Dr Weir…" he trailed off as he felt them accelerate to hyperspace, "… or not!" He let out a long string of Russian, and though Cadman didn't understand the specifics, she got the gist of it. She grinned, definitely agreeing with him.

* * *

John spent much of the rest of the time at his controls looking sullen, an expression definitely more suited for the other remaining member of the team. Rodney, who couldn't sleep, just sat and watched him out of the corner of his eye. He was very concerned, but unable to think of a way to bring him out of it. Every time he closed his eyes he saw Ford's body gently turning in that debris cloud, so he couldn't imagine what John, who had had a closer friendship with the man, was going through.

"There's nothing we could have done. Even if he had survived the decompression, without the rear section we couldn't have helped him." Rodney said quietly and again quite gently.

"We should never leave a man behind," replied John, his voice expressionless.

"We won't. We'll return with the Daedalus, if they haven't already found him."

"Unless the Wraith took him."

"Why would they be interested in a dead man? They wouldn't be able to get any information from him, and he wouldn't exactly make a good meal."

That typically Rodney comment, blunt as a hammer, didn't particularly comfort John, but he got the point.

Unwilling and unable to sleep, both men sat in silence as their destination slowly became larger.


	3. Day 3

A/N: This is the betaed version now. I haven't made any major changes to the plot, just a few spelling and grammer problems.

Day 3

Elizabeth looked over Caldwell's report. She still couldn't accept that they'd lost John, Rodney and Ford, and kept searching the report for some hint that they might still be alive. All of them were invaluable to the expedition. Rodney's knowledge of Ancient technology easily outweighed his foibles, and John made an excellent head of the military.

She sighed as she opened a clean document on her laptop. She now had the hard job of writing yet another eulogy, and as ever, she hadn't a clue where to start.

A knock on her door attracted her attention. Dr Zelenka, straight off of the Daedalus, was standing there with an anxious expression his face.

"Doctor Zelenka. What can I do for you?" She asked, trying to sound genuinely pleased that he had returned so soon.

"We need to get back to the site where we found Ford."

"I've read the report. I thought the puddle jumper had been destroyed?"

"I am not so sure. You see, Hermiod and I believe that it could be possible to detect a remnant of their trail."

"If it exists…" Elizabeth added.

"You have given up on them already?"

Elizabeth paused, and then said, "I'm sorry, Doctor, but I cannot expend any more time on this."

"Well, can I take a jumper there and investigate?"

"It's two days from the nearest gate, and I can't release you for that long either."

"Elizabeth, please…" he said pleadingly.

"I'm sorry, but my answer is still no, and that's my last word."

Zelenka sagged. He'd hoped that he'd be given one last chance to find them. As he turned to leave, Elizabeth said,

"I think you should be the one to write Rodney's eulogy. I think you're the person who really knew him best."

Zelenka turned to face her again, and started, "I don't…" he stopped, and turned around.

Elizabeth could see his reason for hesitating. Somehow, the funeral made the facts seem certain, irrefutable. It was hard to plan as well, and thinking about that made Elizabeth's emotions stir up again. She took the moment Zelenka used to compose himself to pull herself together.

"I would be honoured." He said a little thickly.

* * *

Rodney had finally managed to drop of into a restless nap, until John nudged him alert.

"Wha'?" His nap had done little to make him more awake.

"We're near now." John replied, equally tired. He pointed to the now obviously snowy planet.

Resisting the urge to just lie back and go to sleep again, Rodney ran a scan of the planet. An enlarged image of it appeared on the front screen, and a point flashed.

"That's the gate." He said.

John nodded, and adjusted their course slightly. "Have we got any water left?" He asked.

Rodney picked up the only canteen that hadn't been dumped into space. When he shook it, it sounded almost empty. Without hesitating, he handed it to John, who waved it away. "Go on, you need it more than me, and besides, there's plenty of water where we're headed." Rodney insisted, grinning a little.

Reluctantly, John took it, and swallowed the last mouthful. Looking at Rodney, he said, "Beard's coming on."

Rodney scowled.

* * *

Elizabeth looked at the still blank document in front of her. She had written so many eulogies, so many letters to next of kin. They never got easier, especially for someone she had been as close to as she had been to John and Rodney.

A knock on the door caught her attention. Teyla was standing there.

"Oh, Teyla, come in." Elizabeth tried and failed to put on a welcoming smile.

"You asked to see me?"

"Oh? Oh, yes. Please sit down."

Teyla took the seat opposite Elizabeth at her desk.

"Teyla, I'm not really sure how your people conduct a funeral, but we have a tradition where the person's closest friends make a speech. I know you and John were quite close, and I was wondering if you would do that for him."

Teyla paused for a moment, wondering what to say. "I am honoured you asked me, but surely you know him better than I?"

"We met not long before the expedition left. You have spent more time in his company than me."

"That may be so." She paused again. "I will try."

"I am sure John would have liked you to do this."

"Perhaps."

* * *

Rodney, who was still really tired, was running a check over the jumper as they made their final approach to the planet, well, what was left of the jumper, anyway. Almost the entire rear hull was gone, as well as a few bits of the surrounding area. Then he noticed the warning light over the engines.

"Oh dear." He said.

"What?" Replied John.

"The reverse thrusters are damaged. There's no way to fix them."

"What does that mean?" John asked through a yawn.

"It's going to be a bumpy landing." Rodney replied through a similar yawn and a scowl.

"As if we don't have enough to worry about." He looked at the area in front of the gate. At least it was about flat, but John's knowledge from Antarctica warned him that there could be hidden crevasses or pits of snow like quicksand. It was too late to do anything about that now. They were just about to enter the atmosphere. "Oh well." He sighed, "Be ready to dial the date and enter your IDC. And hang on!" Rodney nodded, and with his GDO in hand, grabbed the end of the DHD.

John did his best to keep them on a reasonably straight course, but they were heading for a very hard landing if they couldn't slow down. In a desperate measure, just before they hit the ice, and while they were flying reasonably horizontally, John swung the jumper around. Turning up the throttle, he put the full force of the engines to work slowing them down.

Even with this added deceleration, both men were thrown to the floor when the jumper ploughed into the snow and ice, but John's daring manoeuvre saved both of their lives. Both men unconscious, the jumper dug a trench as it landed, before finally coming to rest, facing the right way again, deep in a snow drift.

Beta's note: Hey folks, very sorry for the waiting! Don't blame the Author, it's all my fault looks down, scrubs foot on floor. Ah well shrugs I've got another chapter to Beta!


	4. Day 4

Day 4

Elizabeth looked at the speech she had spent the entire night finishing. Today was the day of the funeral. In fact, it was due to start soon, and Elizabeth looked worse for the wear of the night.

She quickly showered and changed into her smartest, and in respect to John's wishes, most cheerful suit. It had seemed so unlikely, not long ago when John had said he wanted no black at his funeral, that it would happen so soon.

As she made her way, she saw others making their way to the service. Following the SGC tradition, it was being held in the gate room.

Teyla and Zelenka were both waiting by the gate when she arrived, and she nodded to them as she took her place between them.

The rest of the expedition filtered in, as many people as possible filling the gate room, and everywhere else they could see or hear. The riot of colours somehow made Elizabeth more emotional than she would have been if everyone had been in dark colours. It reminded her too much of John's personality in general.

When everyone was present, Elizabeth took a step forward, and everybody fell silent. "We're all here to honour those that we have lost. Doctor Rodney McKay, Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard and Lieutenant Aiden Ford were killed in the line of duty two days ago, while involved in a fight with the Wraith. I have asked Teyla and Dr Zelenka to say a few words.

She stepped aside, and Teyla stepped forward.

"I speak for those who cannot. John Sheppard was the man who brought the Athosians and Atlantians together. He acted selflessly and courageously to save both of our people from the Wraith." She paused a second.

"I do not know the exact details of his end, but from what I saw, he ended his time in glory. May he now rest in peace, wherever he now may be." Teyla bowed her head, and stepped back,

Dr Zelenka then took a stop forward to deliver his speech. "Many of us knew, or have experienced Rodney McKay." A few people grinned a little at his choice of words. "But, underneath the façade of superiority and self-importance, there was a kind and loyal man. Though we did not see it often, he possessed tremendous courage and determination, and I would like to think he kept those traits until the very end." Zelenka paused to compose himself.

"That end was worthy of the greatest hero, and I believe he was one. Rest well, my friend, you have earned it." He finished, voice thick with emotion, and took a step back.

Finally, Elizabeth took the fore. "Aide Ford was one of the finest soldiers I have had the privilege to meet. Brave, loyal and funny, he was a credit to this expedition. I am sorry I have little more to say about him. Even after all this time, I do not know him well. However, I am proud to have known him at all. I know commend him to the starts of the place we now call home."

Behind her, the gate dialled out to an orbiting stargate, for from any known civilisation. With the shield raised, none of the three had to move as the wormhole opened.

Only then did they step aside, as the coffin was carried passed them, and pushed through the gate. All the military personnel came to attention as it entered, until it was completely through the event horizon. Then the gate shut down.

Glasses were passed around, and then Elizabeth made a toast. "To fallen friends. May they rest in peace."

"Fallen friends." Replied the crowd in unison.

* * *

Rodney woke up looking at John, his head seriously sore. John was looking back at him, hand on head. "De ja vu!" He muttered, and John groaned an agreement. 

Carefully, Rodney stood up and shivered. The front section of the cockpit was full of snow to the roof. Very rapidly, he realised what would have happened if they'd been sitting in those seats. They must have skidded and twisted around when they hit the ground.

As John got up, his leg collapsed underneath him. Rodney rushed to his side, and bent to look at the leg. John tried to fight him off with an "Its fine."

"If it was fine you wouldn't still be on the floor." Rodney remarked.

John grumbled but submitted to Rodney's ministrations. Gingerly, Rodney examined the leg, and ignoring the occasional grimace or groan from John, decided that it didn't seem, that serious. "It only looks like a sprain."

"Feels like it."

Rodney rummaged around what was let of the jumper. He brought out the first aid kit, and looked around for a splint. Not seeing anything useful, he decided to try the aft section.

When he finally got the bulkhead to open, he instantly saw themes in there. The rear hatch, as he had suspected, was completely gone. Its frame was twisted and blackened. Anything that wasn't fastened down had gone.

He spotted a piece of plastic that had become lodged in the bench that would work as a splint, and pulled another one off of the side of the bench to act as a crutch. By then, he was shivering from the cold flooding in the open hatched, accompanied by flakes of snow that were already beginning to form drifts.

He forced his way back into the fore section, and closed the door behind him, slowly beginning to stop shivering. Once his hands were still enough to not hurt John, he wrapped the small plastic piece onto his leg with a tight bandage.

Taking his crutch, John attempted to stand, and just about succeeded, if a little wobbly. "Well, thank Rodney. We'll make a medic out of you yet."

Rodney grimaced. He still didn't consider medicine a real science. "You landed well, considering. The gate is about ten minutes that way, along the ditch you dug for us." He grinned as John scowled.

"Shall we go then?"

"Wrap up warm. In the wind, it'll be well below zero out there."

"Yes mother." Replied John, easily acting the little child. They both grabbed what blankets were left, and with John leaning heavily on his crutch, they made their way to the gate.

The first kilometre wasn't too bad, the jumper's landing had compacted the snow into ice.

"Almost like a road." Remarked John.

After that, the going was much harder. Both men were soon shin-deep in the snow, and John kept staggering on his injured leg.

For a while they walked in silence, until John fell for what felt like the tenth time, and lost his crutch in the snow. He was so fed up, he was tempted to just stay there.

"Just go." He said through chattering teeth. "I'm only slowing you down. Don't worry about me."

"Oh no you don't." Replied Rodney. He ducked down and get John's arm around his neck. Using what leverage he could get in the snow, he just about managed to get him upright. "Now, we are both getting to that gate, and you do not get a choice in the matter soldier." Rodney snapped, his authoritative tone slightly spoiled by his shivering.

"Pilot!" Muttered John, but he complied, leaning heavily on Rodney as they got closer to the gate.

When they eventually got there, Rodney let John rest in the lee of the mound of snow that was the DHD while he dug it out. As he brushed away the last of the snow, he tried to enter Atlantis's address.

None of the symbols lit as he pressed them, and when he tried again, he noticed that none of the buttons were actually moving.

"It's frozen." He yelled to John, who jerked up as if he'd fallen asleep. "Don't drop off on me now."

John grunted a response.

Rodney crouched with John while he considered what to do. There was no way they could get back to the jumper, to that the DHD was likely to be working there either.

He could only think of one thing to do. Carefully, so he didn't waste too much heat, Rodney rearranged the blankets around his chest and lay down on the DHD, letting what was left of his body heat warm it. He could fill the chill of the metal penetrate to his bones, and became so cold he stopped shivering. However, he stayed there until he felt some of the buttons move under his weight.

Quickly, before they froze again, he entered Atlantis's address with remarkably steady hands. Idly, he noticed this, and wondered why they were so still. It was a struggle to enter his IDC into the GDO as his hands were going stiff, and he was beginning to think he had frostbite in his hands. The DHD seemed to have sapped the last of his heat.

Supporting John enough to get them both through the gate sapped most of Rodney's remaining strength as well, and as thy approached the event horizon he muttered, "After this, I think I need to go into training."

"After this, I'll help you all you want." Replied a slightly more alert John.

Together, they crossed the event horizon.

* * *

The funeral had dispersed into small groups, discussing John, Ford and Rodney. Elizabeth drifted from group to group, trying to find out what everyone thought of the men, half to get an idea of what to tell their next of kin. 

She looked at her watch. It was getting late, and she was considering going to her room, where she could finally grieve in private.

The incoming wormhole caught everyone by surprise. The shield rose automatically, and everyone moved clear as defence teams moved in.

Elizabeth spun to face the control room and said, "Any IDC?"

The man paused, and then said in surprise, "It is Dr McKay's!"

"Lower the shield!" Yelled Elizabeth.

"Need I remind you, Doctor, that his code could have been captured?" Put in Caldwell.

"Don't defy me now Caldwell." Elizabeth said coldly. The man in the control room didn't need telling twice. A few flakes of snow came through the gate as the shield lowered, and then they were followed by two deathly pal people.

"John?" Elizabeth said, at the same time as Zelenka, who was also close to the gate, said, "Rodney?"

They both rushed over to the shaking men. Elizabeth touched John's arm. He was so cold. Immediately she wrapped her jacket around him, and noticed Rodney had acquired Zelenka's jumper, though, and she giggled, it pinned his arms to his sides. She laughed, slightly hysterically, as the relief of their return overwhelmed her.

Dr Beckett appeared from somewhere whit a medical team he must have summoned. Ignoring all comments and protests, he forced both men onto gurneys, and attached heated IVs to both of them. Before he was wheeled away, John reached for Elizabeth's arm, and said, "Go' to ge' For'." His speech was slurred as exhaustion and hypothermia overwhelmed him.

Elizabeth took his hand and said kindly. "We got him, John. He's at rest now, don't worry. Just get better now."

"He won't get better here." Carson remarked acerbically.

Elizabeth let him go, and watched as John and Rodney, both completely unconscious, disappeared down the corridor.

A/N: This is nearly finished. Just one more chapter to go...


	5. After Their Return

A/N: Sorry for the long gap between posting these last chapters. My computer has been really stupid at the moment. Well, here's the last bit.

Three Weeks after Their Return

John woke to see a darkened room. A little further down, he could hear Rodney's heavy breathing. Both men had suffered practically every cold-related disease going while they recovered. More than once, Carson put them on the critical list, but now they were beginning to win the war.

"Good morning." Said Elizabeth, who had been watching them both quietly, trying to gauge their progress. "Feeling better?"

John smiled weakly. He couldn't remember much since they'd arrived, much of the time had been spent either asleep or sedated, but he did have a vague impression of someone always sitting in every time he woke.

"A little." He replied, his voice hoarse.

They both looked anxiously as Rodney coughed in his sleep, but he soon settled again. He had suffered the worse of the two, having used his body heat to free the DHD, but when John had been able to recite his story, Rodney had received high praise, when he was awake. He'd also received an equal measure of concern from Carson. Both men had lost strength and weight due to inactivity and illness, but Rodney's had dropped off at an alarming rate. At one point, when they were both awake, he had heard them mention training together and he'd hoped they would both remember.

"Carson say's you're both getting better. We should have you up about soon."

"The sooner the better," he croaked, and yawned.

Almost immediately, Carson arrived and shooed Elizabeth away to let his patient rest.

Five Weeks after Their Return

Rodney and John stood proudly in front of the entire expedition, with Elizabeth on one side and Caldwell on the other. John was in his full dress uniform and Rodney in his best suit. Both were leaning heavily on crutches, having not fully recovered their strength after their ordeal.

Everyone went quite as Elizabeth to speak. "Bravery is a trait few people can display in the face of extreme adversity. It is one the Ancients highly values, as do we. As such, I believe it is only fitting, considering our location, and what we are here to do, that we revive one of the Ancients highest accolades.

"Doctor Rodney McKay, Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard, I have the great honour to present you with the Atlantian cross, for valour in the face of extraordinary adversity." She pinned the iridescent metal crosses to each of the men's collars. "The first awarded in many thousands of years. May you wear them with pride."

For the second time in the past two months for these men, everyone came to attention, and cheers went around the room as both Elizabeth and Caldwell shook their hands.

A/N: Well, it's finished. The next one's almost ready to go up. I hope you enjoyed this.


End file.
